Butte-Silver Bow, MT, Montana: Populist metro. In 2024, voted D+7%. Democratic peak: D+77 in 1896.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- D+7MIT Election Lab
- Political archetype
- PopulistAkashic typology
- Population
- 35,7852024 5-year
- Median household income
- $61,7542024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 91.0%2024 5-year
- Black
- 0.1%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 4.6%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+77 in 1896MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+20 in 1920MIT Election Lab
Constituent county margins for Butte-Silver Bow, MT, MTOne cell per constituent county, colored by 2024 presidential margin from deep red (Republican) through neutral to deep blue (Democratic), ordered bluest first.
R+60D+60
One cell per constituent county. Ordered by 2024 D-vs-R margin (bluest first). Hover for county-level numbers.
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D | 9,386 | 8,110 | 18,226 | ||
| D | 10,392 | 7,745 | 18,658 | ||
| D | 8,619 | 6,376 | 16,452 | ||
| D | 10,857 | 5,430 | 16,756 | ||
| D | 11,676 | 4,818 | 16,965 | ||
| D | 9,307 | 6,381 | 16,084 | ||
| D | 8,967 | 6,299 | 16,703 | ||
| D | 11,199 | 3,909 | 17,677 | ||
| D | 9,960 | 3,491 | 18,146 | ||
| D | 11,422 | 5,043 | 16,687 | ||
| D | 11,095 | 6,637 | 18,010 | ||
| D | 9,721 | 7,301 | 19,377 | ||
| D | 11,377 | 7,506 | 19,110 | ||
| D | 11,704 | 7,967 | 20,404 | ||
| D | 12,626 | 5,488 | 19,617 | ||
| D | 15,751 | 4,873 | 21,239 | ||
| D | 13,754 | 7,290 | 21,190 | ||
| R | 11,475 | 11,619 | 23,094 | ||
| D | 13,114 | 10,196 | 23,458 | ||
| D | 12,715 | 7,305 | 21,335 | ||
| D | 13,228 | 7,610 | 21,040 | ||
| D | 17,467 | 7,932 | 25,734 | ||
| D | 17,697 | 4,528 | 22,623 | ||
| D | 13,626 | 6,792 | 21,834 | ||
| D | 11,228 | 9,456 | 21,103 | ||
| O | 5,393 | 6,520 | 18,814 | ||
| R | 6,394 | 10,074 | 18,198 | ||
| D | 13,084 | 6,757 | 21,547 | ||
| O | 4,542 | 2,232 | 11,896 | ||
| D | 6,255 | 4,618 | 13,656 | ||
| D | 5,686 | 5,149 | 14,274 | ||
| D | 12,101 | 3,873 | 16,310 | ||
| D | 9,992 | 1,275 | 11,296 | ||
| R | 2,648 | 3,251 | 8,426 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
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Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
Irish
24.8%
German
19.8%
English
11.8%
Italian
5.9%
American
4.7%
French
2.7%
Scottish
2.6%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release. Hispanic/Latino is an ethnicity that overlaps the race categories, so these shares can total more than 100%. Ancestry is a self-reported, multiple-response item; ancestry percentages do not sum to the parent race percentage.
Age distribution by sex
Median age: 40.5 in this county, 39.1 nationally
Male
Age
Female
85+
75–84
65–74
55–64
45–54
35–44
25–34
18–24
5–17
<5
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Median household income
2024 inflation-adjusted dollars
$61,754
Butte-Silver Bow, MT ranks near the middle of US counties.
Butte-Silver Bow, MT$61,754
Montana$72,509
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
14.8%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1815.2%
Working age (18–64)14.9%
Seniors (65+)12.9%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
97.6%
speak English only
Asian & Pacific Islander1.3%
Other Indo-European0.7%
Spanish0.4%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 56.1% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Butte-Silver Bow is a rare blue enclave in rural Montana, its consolidated city-county government and strong union roots producing Democratic margins that have outlasted the party's broader collapse across the state's working-class interior.
The Democratic margin in Butte-Silver Bow, MT peaked at seventy-seven points in 1896. By 1960 the metro had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. The 2024 margin was seven points, the most Democratic-leaning result in the metro's modern history.
The economic context is the key. The median household income of $61,754 sits well below state and national norms, and 15% of residents live below the federal poverty line. The shift here is part of a broader realignment of working-class places across the country.
Cite this page
All citations released under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Akashic Intelligence.
Butte-Silver Bow, MT, Montana — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/cbsa/15580/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
Frequently asked questions
How did Butte-Silver Bow, MT, Montana vote in 2024?
In 2024, Butte-Silver Bow, MT, Montana voted Democratic by 7.0 points (D+7), carried by the Democratic candidate. Out of 18,226 votes cast, 9,386 went Democratic and 8,110 went Republican.
What is Butte-Silver Bow, MT, Montana's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Butte-Silver Bow, MT, Montana as a "Populist" metro based on its long-arc presidential voting pattern. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the metro has voted Democratic 29 times, Republican 3 times, and other 2 times.
When did Butte-Silver Bow, MT, Montana last vote Republican?
The most recent presidential election in which Butte-Silver Bow, MT, Montana voted Republican was 1956.
How many people live in Butte-Silver Bow, MT, Montana?
Butte-Silver Bow, MT, Montana has a population of 35,785 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Butte-Silver Bow, MT, Montana?
Median household income in Butte-Silver Bow, MT, Montana is $61,754 — below the national median of $80,734. The Montana state median is $72,509.
What is the political history of Butte-Silver Bow, MT, Montana?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Butte-Silver Bow, MT, Montana from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 29 went Democratic and 3 went Republican. The metro's archetype — "Populist" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.